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Thursday, 30 July 2009

Olympic Noise & Dust Meeting

Many of you would have got these emails copied to you this morning - but for those of you whose email addresses I haven't as yet collected - please read through the correspondence below. It really would be great to have a date that is convenient for as many of us as possible to meet the Olympic Suits.

Please leave comments up here to say which dates are more convenient for you, and together we will set a time. If you are unable to make it to the meeting - please leave your questions, suggestions, comments, compliments & grumbles up here as well, and we will pass them on. As usual - this also goes if you are too shy to talk at meetings - put your comment up here - and we'll raise it on your behalf with you listening to the answer straight from the suits mouth.

Good Morning,

I hope your family is well,

I have just left a voice message on your mobile to let you know that the Operations Director and Project Manager from Skanska would like to meet with you and other residents if possible? (especially those who have complained to you about the noise coming from site out of hours) they have suggested either tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning.

Please let me know when a suitable time will be and they will go to Lea Bank Square and meet you at a convenient location.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Regards,

Giorgia

Hi Everyone

I have just got off the phone with Giorgia Sharpe from the Olympic Community Team. As some of you are all too aware - there is a massive increase in noise & dust from across the canal. Some of it has been 'emergency' work being carried out in the middle of the night (flooding pumping) - but most of it is just sloppiness - vehicles reversing, diggers banging mud out of buckets, contractors not honouring the working hours, generators being left on, trucks beeping horns, etc.

As the Leabank Square Olympic Spy Person - I gather all the complaints from as many residents as possible - and pass them over to the Olympic Community Team. Although - by far the most complaints are about dust - the ones I get out of hours are about these sloppy noisy examples interrupting the sleep of Homerton Hospital & London Transport shift workers. These residents need their sleep to be uninterrupted in order to look after us in hospital, and carry us all over London to work.

Please ignore the dates these suits are pushing us to meet - after chatting to a few of the (above) shift workers - the date most popular to meet with them is Monday 10th August (about Mid Day up on the riverbank). Please leave comments up here to either confirm or give an alternative date for the meeting.

I know we have by far much more pressing issues to deal with at the moment in Leabank Square - but we haven't discussed the noise & dust for a few weeks now - and this is the ideal opportunity to speak to the suits directly.

peaceSóna

Morning,

It was good to talk to you, as per conversation I will wait to hear from you regarding a suitable date & time for the construction team from Skanska to meet with you and residents.

Thanks for the text Maria. How conincidental is that? She sends emails, phones Shona - then ten minutes later we get a flyer from the same b*tch! There is NO BLOODY WAY that we must let them get away with this! Who gives a sh*t if they are getting ahead of themselves with the construction?! That's their mess - why do WE have to suffer the consequences?!What did that Kavuma dick give them permission for?! The Standard guy wanted me to give them the name of the HC person - but I'll ask Sona first.Come on Leabank Square, lets get those banners out at last!Dave

Did Hackney Council REALLY give them permission? What happened to the 36 hours notification? We got the leaflets today - and its all starting tomorrow?! Please will you call that Robert guy tomorrow and STRESS in VERY LOUD & CLEAR terms that we are VERY unhappy with this complete breakdown in communications AGAIN!! (What IS it with this Sharpe woman?!)Paul

Hi SonaI know we are supposed to go through Simon 1st - but we thought that Dave (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog) should hear about this quickly, and today there were already 513 hits. We'll pass the rest through Simon - promise! I can't for the life of me think why Hackney Council and the ODA treat Leabank Square like this? What have we EVER done to them to deserve this?Su & Meg

SónaWe have got to find out what constitutes 'urgent' for the ODA. Clearly we have a very different interpretation of the word to them. Surely they would have known that they were building the broadcast centre too quickly for the road infrastructure? Any idiot can see that they are getting ahead of themselves from this side of the canal!Shame on Hackney Council for giving the ODA permission to carry out these out of hours works!Eileen

Thanks for the call mate! The real villians of the peace this time are Hackney Council!The Skanska bunch will always play dirty, but ultimatley its up to Hackney to give them permission to disrupt our lives - and they willingly do it. Can you imagine how much baksheesh is passing between the construction companies and some individuals in Hackney? Someones going to get a retirement home on the costa Dick.Tell Shona to get to the bottom of the signature signing in Hackney Council, and you'll have your man.Len

Hi SónaWould it be too childish of me to say that I told you so?Sleep with the devil, and he'll bite your bum off!Apart from not wanting to be anywhere near that Sharpe thing why do you think I didn't get down to the sunflower planting? They pretend to be all community aware, and caring about our plight, but then they extend their working hours to make our evenings & weekends as much of a hell as the rest of the week!Robert Kavuma is no different. For someone who takes our council taxes (& maybe some baksheesh) he doesn't give a damn about his own residents at all!

Hello SonaJust got back and saw the Notification of Works about the ring road. I saw that there was only a days notice and that Hackney Council had given permission. I will take this all up with the relevant parties concerned.M

This is what they do, this is who they are. Everyone should keep as good a record of the nuisance as they can and keep Leigh Day informed. But find out when and how you can get injunctions. They don't really care about compensation, someone else will pay for that, but they do care about delays.

Thanks for ALL the emails, especially the ones from beautiful exotic locations, making us all as jealous as possible.

While I am a bit dissapointed at the common consensus, I REALLY do understand the VERY negative opinions of the ODA and Skanska. We are the ones living through this incredible upheaval, and as such, have a right to be a bit peeved at the huge levels of noise - but especially dust.

But we can't keep on getting the media involved at every difficult corner. 1st - and very selfishly - I simply do not have the time to mount a media campaign against the ODA. But 2nd - I know I'm repeating myself here again - but I still think we need to keep the channels of communication open. I know that almost everyone wants nothing to do with Giorgia Sharpe, and I'm sure we can ask for another staffer. But I really want to urge everyone to allow me to get this meeting under way.

Of course I will only put what WE want on the agenda, but I still think its worth a shot.

I also take on board the whole meeting fatigue thing - that's why we started the blog in the 1st place. It is a rolling on-going Community Meeting. Believe it or not - I find it a bit difficult to attend all the meetings as well.

I also must remind everyone that the ODA & Skanska actually requested THIS meeting. I had nothing to do with it. THEY wanted to speak to US about what is vexxing us at the moment. I think that is a great bit of initiative on their part.

Of course we are not going to be happy about most of what they say to us, but isn't it a positive turn?

Also - Sorry about not releasing all the (numerous other) comments in this thread - but if you don't see your comment up here - it was just TOO angry to be read by the rest of us. I am not censoring you - you are completely able to phone the ODA to have your say - or to start your own blog. But some of the language and sentiments were just TOO angry for this family blog.

Please either email me again - or comment up here - to reply to my request for me to go ahead with the meeting.

Hello SónaThanks for the email. Like I said last week - as long as someone OTHER THAN Giorgia Sharpe deals with you, I am happy for you to go ahead with the meeting. There is no way on Gods Earth that you're ever going to get a lot of us to the meeting. Choose a date that best suits you, and then tell us. As usual, if we're around, we'll watch your back, if not, watch out for the sharks.David

Dude! I hear what you say, but they have to learn the hard way man! They are not doing any dust suppresion beyond the bowler that comes around now & then. But then they have some jock-straps motoring up and down the dirt track with that bloody rattling forklift truck kicking up a storm 2 minutes later! Where's the mitigation?! My money is on the media, this time I'll give you a hand. Plus those new students in Marias flat are starting Meedja Studies! I'm sure we could get them involved. Dirk

SónaCan you please do something about that awaful smell?! The kids a re in tears about that tar being layed all over where they planted a couple of fig trees, but to add to the hurt, the smell of it is steaming in through their bedroom windows. Where is Meg Hillier in all this mate? Is she still hiding behind her 'I am a minister, Itherefore cany get involved' curtain? How would she like it if a tar road was being laid outside her kids windows?Leroy

Forget Hillier man, whats she EVER done for us? Waste of a parliamentry seat! Pity we cant ever accuse her of lying to see if SHE would get all sensitive? Some people shouldnt do tough jobs if they cant handle a bit of ciritisim. Bill

Hey SónaSome of us are getting a bit personal with that Sharpe olympic javelin, no? She's a complete irrelevance. Remember those words of assurance about the dust at the begining? Pah! Don't even bother about her.Let's get MAJORLY overheated about this new road!Please could you find out if the part of it immediately in front of Leabank Square is still listed as temporary? I remember you said that someone from the ODA told your Hackney Wick Partnership meeting that it would be demolished in Legacy mode. So basically, it will follow the curve uphil and around the catering compound, and then round to the handball arena, not staying here in front of us.Please make sure that we stay on top of this issue. If we just leave it up to the ODA, they will conveniently 'forget' this promise - like so many others - and before we know it we'll have a permanent dual carriageway forever right opposite us!Leroy is right about the asphalt smell though! It zumms like a crackhouse here at the moment! I'm taking the kids out to Viccie Park just to clear their heads of the aches & hallucinigens steaming into our lounge.Mo

Its like Ive always said. Everytime that idiot in Hackney Council gives the olympics the go ahead to work out of hours these situations arrive. Why does Kavuma think he can make our lives extra stressfulled at the swipoe of his pen? Of corse Sharpe got her timing way wrong, but the real villain is Hackney Council not looking out for its citizens. Shame on them. Eileen

Richard, I know we should double check the plans, but there are 2 other things that we should also get Sóna to adress as well. 1. that it is still earmarked as a temporary road. The last Partnership meeting he came back from had someone from skanska, and Sóna said that the wording used was more vague about the longevity of the road.2. the smell, vibrations and noise form this laying, squashing and constructing the road is unbelievable form the front! Whoever sees Sóna first should collar him about this situation!Meg

MAAAAAAAAAAN! These bunch of hardhats are driving us crazzzzeeeee!Shona, have we had the latest noise data from the monitors yet? They are deffo over the threshold with the laying of the road! Those roller machines are the worst coz they make vibrations and a massive noise. Is the ODA gonna be honest with the stats? How can we believe them if they are measuring themselves? Of course they gonna make sure the levels come in under the threshold. What happened to HCs microphone? Werent they supposed to stick one up next to the ODAs? Andy

Hey why are these olympic arsewipes digging up the newly laid road RIGHT OUTSIDE MY BEDROOM WINDOW? A brand new road THEY LAID and they choose right after my night shift to go and use the digger from hell to crack it all up again! Who's looking after us while shona's away? Anyone got that number he gave us at the meeting? MAKE IT STOP!!!Tracy

Hi SónaThere is no way that I'm interrested in being smooshed by this bunch of 'honest' construction types with a meeting. We all know what they are going to say, and then we all know what they are going to do. A leopard never changes its spots!Mary

God that noise this morning was annoying!!! What are they digging it all up for again? Maybe it's just to annoy us during the holidays? I don't mind them waking me up when I need to go to lectures - but this is my holidays! Have a staycation the governement says - bet that particular brainwave of a politician doesn't live next to the olympics!Suzy

Anyone got a copy of that Giorgia Sharpe letter she sent us a few weeks ago? I'm sure the noise was only meant to go on late for only a week? Whats all that racket coming over from behind the welfare centre as I write? We are meant to be able to open our doors and windows after we come home from work, and chill! Why does she constatntl get these basic things wrong???????????clara

Hi SónaHow much longer is this bloody noise going to go on for? I am at my wits end with the insesant noise (and probably breathing in toxic dust too) all day long. What HAS HAPPENED to the councils microphone that was supposed to check these Olympic twits own microphone? How do we know that they are not BSsing us?Dorothy

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